Layne Riggs Wins the MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono

LONG POND, P.A. – After a week off, the Craftsman Truck Series returned to action Friday, June 20, at Pocono Raceway for the MillerTech Battery 200. Front Row Motorsports’ second-year driver Layne Riggs qualified on pole getting some revenge for bad luck the season prior, where he barely made the grid for the start of the race after crashing late in practice. However, with some late luck, Riggs would secure the victory!

With the race being just 80 laps, every pass and opportunity mattered, and the race delivered action-wise from start to finish. 

Things picked up immediately on lap one, as the field immediately fanned out three to five wide as usual at Pocono on restarts. Riggs got a great jump but did not get out far. In turn one, Kaden Honeycutt of Niece Motorsports took the lead. 

The action didn't stop there though as Riggs came firing back on the outside, but it was Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim who then went bottom of three wide and shot to the lead in the tunnel turn. 

Heim led the first lap and saw his lead expand to two seconds quickly on lap three. 

Further back hard racing continued as there was a four-car jumble for second between Riggs, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Honeycutt, and Tricon’s Tanner Gray. Things though spread out as the laps continued on. 

On lap 10, Heim held a 1.8-second lead over Riggs, while Hocevar faded to nearly 3.2 seconds behind. Honeycutt and Gray also fell off even more than the two in front, as they both were over 8.1 seconds behind on lap 14.

The first brigade of the strategy began on lap 17 as Hocevar and Spire teammate Rajah Caruth peeled down to pit road. A lap later Corey Heim headed on down for his stop undercutting the stage.

A caution ended the first stage though as Reaume Brothers Racing’s Cody Dennison cut down a tire in turn one, knocking down the outside wall hard and ending his day. This was bad luck for Caruth, Tricon’s Giovanni Ruggiero, and C9 Motorsports Grant Enfinger as all three got trapped a lap down. 

Layne Riggs opted to stay out, taking the stage points and earning his fourth stage win of the season. With the front runners needing to pit, the caution mixed things up majorly for the second stage.

During the break, only one driver of those who hadn't pitted on the stage opted to stay out, that being defending race winner Stewart Friesen of Halmar Friesen Racing. Heim led the pack of cars who had undercut the stage, restarting to his inside. 

Friesen got a good jump and got clear out of one but was instantly challenged by Heim who powered to Friesen’s outside in turn three, returning to the lead. Hocevar also made quick work of the defending winner passing him just a corner later. 

A newcomer on strategy entered the podium a lap later as Thorsport’s Jake Garcia went around Friesen for third on lap 28, but sat 1.5 seconds off the lead with a lot of ground to make up on the lead.

As for Layne Riggs, he did not have the best of restarts fading to 9th early, but on lap 32 he jumped back into the top five with eight laps to go in the stage. The question though would be which strategy would best prevail at the end of the second stage?

With six laps to go on the stage, Friesen opened up the strategy play, making his first stop of the day. He resumed firmly on the lead lap. With three laps to go Front Row’s Chandler Smith came down to pit. Surprisingly, every other driver stayed out, opting to pit at the stage's end. Though it wasn't as big of a lead as the first stage, Heim won Stage 2 earning his 12th stage win of the season, continuing his dominance. Behind Heim was Hocevar and Riggs on the podium. 

Thorsport also added another truck to the mix, as after having to start 34th due to unapproved adjustments, two-time Craftsman Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes made a charge up to 8th. This was promising for Rhodes as before the weekend the team opted to swap crew chiefs, putting Doug George on the box. George had been serving as Crew Chief primarily for Luke Baldwin in team #66. 

As pit stops commenced Heim won the race out of pit road, but it was Thorsport again mixing things up as this time defending champion Ty Majeski played strategy jumping twelve spots to third of the group out of the pits. Behind Friesen opted to pit, taking fuel only coming out 8th in the group while Smith opted to also pit, coming out 14th. Only one driver stayed out, that being Rajah Caruth who had last pit on lap 24.

The green came back out on lap 46 as Caruth didn't get a strong jump leading to things getting jumbled up in the pack as the field was four wide into turn one. Heim with ease powered by Caruth taking the lead opening a healthy gap of .789 over Riggs who assumed 2nd.

Things were short-lived though as a caution would come out for a big crash in the tunnel turn. McAnnally-Higemann was a victim of a three-wide scenario where Enfinger made it three wide on the bottom, washing up into Rhodes, sending them all up into the wall. This created a roadblock as crashing into the incident was Rackley W.A.R. 's Dawson Sutton, Niece Motorsports’ Conner Jones, and Reaume’s Clayton Green all got collected.

 Both Green and Jones were ruled out of the race. Then Sutton also was ruled out a few laps later.  Only one truck of the group stayed on the lead lap, that being Rhodes, but the damage impacted his day mightily. The pits opened on lap 51. Only Rajah Caruth came down from the front runners. 

On lap 55 the race restarted but a caution quickly came back out as Jake Garcia hit the inside wall ending his day. Corey Heim remained in the lead with Riggs and Hocevar tailing behind.

Bad luck though struck Heim with 20 laps to go, as the field was lined up to take the restart, he suffered a flat right rear tire needing to pit. This handed the lead to Layne Riggs but Hocevar was the one who got the jump, gapping Riggs. The issue though, is Hocevar was not the control truck giving himself a restart violation. This put Layne Riggs in the lead, in control of the race. 

Hocevar pleaded and begged NASCAR to overturn the penalty, but he served it with 17 laps to go. He resumed the race in the 25th position while Heim was 26th last truck on the lead lap. The problems for lead lap cars did not end though as Thorsport’s bad luck continued as this time Matt Crafton had to pit for a flat right front tire. 

As Riggs crossed the stripe with 10 laps to go, his lead was a mighty 2.71 seconds. Behind, being hopeful for a caution was both Gray and Honeycutt who held the podium. Also in the top five was Tricon’s Brandon Jones and McAnally’s Daniel Hemric who had battled back from a tough day. 

Things remained calm throughout the remainder of the way as things spread out and remained uneventful. As the checkered flag waved Layne Riggs earned his first win of the season clinching a spot in the playoffs. 

After the race regarding the restart, Riggs said, “I was about two car lengths away” ((About the time he found out he was the control car for the restart.) Layne also said he wishes the ending wasn’t as odd, but he is happy to be in victory lane after what happened to him last year here at Pocono. 

UP NEXT:

The NASCAR Truck Series will head to Limerock Park as the series faces a new challenge on the schedule. As for this weekend, the next action will be the NASCAR Xfinity Series, as they face the Tricky Triangle, on Saturday, June 21,  at 3:30 pm ET. Action can be found on the CW! The race will be highlighted by Dale Earnhardt Jr, who will fill in as crew chief for Connor Zilisch after Mardy Lindley was suspended one race due to a lugnut infraction. Like the truck race, the racing should see a ton of strategy.